the wife of Philip of Spain, and the immediate effect of the marriage was that steps were speedily taken to ‘reconcile’ England to the church of Rome. It is at this period that Cecil appears first as a diplomatist. On 6 Nov. he set out with Lord Paget and Sir Edward Hastings on a mission to bring Cardinal Pole to England as legate of the pope (Tytler; and see Froude, vi. 266, n. †). On the 23rd of the month the three envoys returned, the cardinal with them. In the following January the persecution began, and on 4 Feb. 1555 Rogers, the first of the Marian martyrs, was burned at Smithfield. In May an attempt was made to conclude a peace between Henry II and the emperor, and once more Cecil was despatched with the cardinal to arrange the terms. The negotiations came to nothing, and he was back again by the end of June. The parliament met on 21 Oct., and Cecil was chosen one of the knights of the shire for Lincoln. A measure had been brought in for confiscating the estates of the protestant refugees. Cecil protested against the iniquity of the proposition, and it appears that it was owing to his protest that the measure was thrown out. In the parliament which met in January 1558 Cecil had no seat. He probably held himself aloof advisedly, and there is reason to believe that he regarded with something like horror the detestable cruelties of the persecution which disgraced Queen Mary's reign. Watching the current of events, he seems to have warily put himself into communication with the Princess Elizabeth; certainly he had won her confidence, and when Mary died on 17 Nov. 1558 he was the first to receive an unqualified expression of esteem from the new queen. Elizabeth at once appointed him chief secretary of state. She was at Hatfield when the news of her sister's death reached her. She had already instructed Cecil how to act, and on the same day that Mary died he drafted the form of proclamation which it was advisable to issue, and assumed the direction of the government. On the 20th Elizabeth gave her first audience in the hall at Hatfield. Cecil took the oaths as secretary, and to him the queen addressed those words which have been so frequently quoted that it is hardly necessary to repeat them here. When she said, ‘This judgment I have of you, that you will not be corrupted with any manner of gifts, and that you will be faithful to the state,’ she gave proof of her sagacity, and showed that she knew the character of the man who, through evil report and good report, was true to his royal mistress, and faithful in his stewardship to the end. A new parliament assembled in January 1559, and Cecil once more took his seat as knight of the shire for Lincoln. He had already issued certain inquiries as to the condition of parties in the country. There were difficulties of all sorts to contend with wherever he turned his eyes. In December a committee of divines met at the house of Sir Thomas Smith, who had been vice-chancellor when Cecil was at Cambridge in 1543, to revise the prayer-book. Suggestions were invited and sent in for the reformation of the ecclesiastical laws. At the same time Philip of Spain made his outrageous proposal of marriage, which itself was a menace in case of refusal. There was a serious want of money. The pope, the English catholic party, France and Scotland, all were factors in the great problems of state with which the new minister had to deal. Elizabeth was crowned on 15 Jan. Parliament met on the 25th. Sir Nicholas Bacon, Cecil's brother-in-law, was keeper of the great seal. On 9 Feb. a bill for restoring the royal supremacy was introduced into the lower house and referred to a committee, of which Sir Anthony Cooke, Cecil's father-in-law, was chairman. In April the bill was passed. Meanwhile a peace had been concluded with France; Scotland was making eager overtures for an alliance with England; the English catholics were dispirited; the commons voted a sufficient subsidy; the outlook everywhere grew clearer. In February Cecil had been elected chancellor of the university of Cambridge; in June he was at the head of the commission for a visitation of the two universities. Just at this time Lord Robert Dudley appears upon the scene as the rising favourite. For a time it seemed as if he had stepped between the queen and the secretary, and there were rumours that Cecil's influence had received a check. Nevertheless, perhaps at no period of his life was the amount of work which he got through more astonishing than during those very months which passed while Lord Robert Dudley was supposed to be supplanting him. Just in proportion as the queen threw the cares of business aside and chose to amuse herself with her early playmate, were the affairs of the nation left to Cecil to manage according to his judgment; and if Elizabeth withdrew herself for a brief period from the routine of business, the secretary had more anxiety and responsibility thrown upon him. His health suffered under the severe strain of all this constant labour of mind and body, and he seems to have been in danger of breaking down. In June of this year he was once more employed on a diplomatic mission to Scotland, in conjunction with Sir William Cordell and Dr.
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