Page:The house of Cecil.djvu/113

 THE FIRST EARL OF EXETER 91

occasion of Elizabeth's memorable visit to Kenil- worth, Thomas Cecil took an active part in the masques and pageants which were enacted, and was among those who received the honour of knighthood. He again distinguished himself in the tournaments and the entertainments which were held in honour of the Duke of Alenson's visit to England in 1581, as a suitor for the Queen's hand. He was a strong supporter of the marriage, and in the previous year he had addressed a long letter to the Queen, containing an elaborate analysis of the troubles likely to ensue if the marriage were broken off, and the best means to divert these perils. At the same time he assured her that finding that she no longer inclined to the marriage, " he is also in conscience and duty per- suaded to yield to the way that may best please her, not because he thinks it best for her, for with his hands and heart he will defend while he lives her marriage, to be her only security at home and abroad, but because he is so faithfully addicted to her service that he will spend his blood not only in that which he thinks best for her, but in any other thing that she herself would have done. For himself," he concludes, " he humbly beseeches her Majesty that he may be the first man to be employed to spend his blood in her service in the place where she thinks her first peril to be, with- out exception of persons, time, place or matter." l

1 Hatfield MSS., II. 308-10, January 28th, 1580. This letter has been supposed to be the work of Lord Burghley, for no reason whatever, except that detractors of Sir Thomas consider him incapable of having written it.

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