[Illustration: BURGHLEY HOUSE.]
On the banks of the Welland River, a short distance above Crowland, is
Stamford, in Lincolnshire, near which is located the well-known Burghley
House, the home of Lord Treasurer Cecil, whose history is referred to in
the notice of Hatfield House. This mansion, which is a short distance
south of Stamford, is now the seat of the Marquis of Exeter, William
Allayne Cecil. It is said to have furnished the text for Lord Bacon's
"Essay on Building," it having been completed but a short time
previously. The plans of this famous house are still preserved in
London. It is a parallelogram built around an open court, with a lofty
square tower projecting from the western front, and having octangular
turrets at the angles. The northern (which is the main) front is divided
into three compartments, and bears on the parapet 1587 as the date when
the house was finished. Within the building a long corridor, commanding
a view of the inner court, leads to a stone staircase which rises to the
top of the structure and is peculiarly decorated. There is a fine
chapel, and in an adjoining room was Giordano's renowned painting of
"Seneca Dying in the Bath," which was eulogized in Prior's poems, he
having seen it there, though it is now removed. One of the most
interesting pictures in the gallery is that of Henry Cecil, the tenth
Earl and the first Marquis of Exeter, his wife, and daughter. Tennyson
has woven the romance of their marriage into a poem. Cecil, before
coming into his title, was living in seclusion in Shropshire, and fell
in love with a farmer's daughter. He married her under an assumed name,
and only disclosed his true rank when, succeeding to his uncle's title
and estates, he became the lord of Burghley and took her home to
Burghley House. Tennyson tells how she received the disclosure:
"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 Burghley, fair and free,
Not a lord in all the county is so great a lord as he.
All at once the color 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 did prove;
But he clasp'd her like a lover, and he cheer'd her soul with love."
The building has many attractive apartments, including a ball-room and
Queen Elizabeth's chamber, but it is doubted whether the maiden queen
ever visited it, though she did stay at Burghley's house in Stamford,
and here made the celebrated speech to her old minister in which she
said that his head and her purse could do anything. Burghley's eldest
son, Thomas, was created Earl of Exeter, and his descendants are now in
possession of the house. His younger son, Robert, as previously related,
was made Earl of Salisbury, and his descendants hold Hatfield House. The
apartments at Burghley are filled with historical portraits. The grand
staircase on the southern side of the house is finer than the other, but
is not so full of character. The gardens of Burghley were planned by
"Capability Brown," the same who laid out Kew. He imperiously overruled
King George III. in the gardening at Kew, and when he died the king is
said to have exclaimed with a sigh of relief to the under-gardener,
"Brown is dead; now you and I can do what we please here." Within St.
Martin's Church in Stamford is the canopied tomb of the lord treasurer,
constructed of alabaster, and bearing his effigy clad in armor, with the
crimson robes of the Garter; it is surrounded with the tombs of his
descendants. It was into Stamford that Nicholas Nickleby rode through
the snowstorm, and the coach stopped at the George Inn, which was a
popular hostelrie in the days of Charles II., as it still remains.
North of Stamford, on the river Witham, is the interesting town of
Grantham, containing the quaint grammar-school founded by Bishop Fox of
Winchester in 1528 where Sir Isaac Newton was educated. It is recorded
by tradition that his career here was not very brilliant as a scholar--a
circumstance which may be told, if for nothing else, at least for the
encouragement of some of the school-boys of a later generation.