THE EXETER LINE 131
The second Earl of Exeter was succeeded by his nephew, David, son of Sir Richard Cecil of Wakerley. 1 His estate was seriously diminished by the portions allotted to his uncle's three daughters, and the dowers of his aunt and grand- mother. He took the side of the Parliament in the Civil War, and is mentioned as having offered 500 towards the cost of raising a troop of horse. He was Lord Lieutenant of Rutlandshire in 1642, and died on April i8th, 1643, having enjoyed his title for less than three years.
David Cecil married Elizabeth, daughter of the first Earl of Bridgewater, by whom he had six sons and three daughters. At his death, however, only two of his children survived : Frances, who married Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper, first Earl of Shaftesbury, and John, who succeeded as fourth Earl of Exeter, being then fifteen years of age. Shortly afterwards, Burghley House was occupied by the Royalist troops, and from them re-captured by Cromwell. The operations are thus described by a contemporary writer 2 :
" Much also about the same time [July 27, 1643], came certain intelligence to London by letters out of Lincoln- shire, that about 1,000 of the Cavaliers from Newark and Bever Castle hovered and roved about Stamford and Wothrop House, a great and strong seat in those parts, but were bravely molested and chased thence by that brave and most worthily renowned Commander, Colonel Cromwell, and at last forced to take sanctuary in a very strong and
1 See p. 103, note.
- John Vicars, in God "s A*ke over-topping the World's Waves. Quoted
by Charlton, p. 135.
K 2
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