Page:The house of Cecil.djvu/148

 124 THE CECILS

of Stamford passed to Lord Grey, who took his title from it. 1

Lady Exeter survived until 1658, when she died at the age of eighty, " leaving behind her an example for piety, wisdom, bounty, charity, and all goodness, fit for imitation of all ladies of honour and virtue." 2 She was a staunch adherent of the Parliament during the Civil War, and in 1643 her house at Newark was sacked and her " rich furniture pillaged." Three years later she sent a petition to Parliament praying for relief " out of the compositions of delinquents' estates," owing to the great losses she had incurred " by the burning, plundering, and spoiling of her houses and goods about Newark and elsewhere." " I have chosen," she says, " to bear these losses in silence, till I can no longer forbear, on account of my many wants and debts." 3

Lord Exeter's son, William, Lord Roos, 4 had a

1 The manor was bought back by the eighth Earl of Exeter, 1747.

2 From the inscription on her monument in St. James', Clerkenwell. 8 House of Lords MSS., Hist. MSS. Com., Report VII., App. p. 153.

At this time (1646) there were no fewer than four Countesses and Dowager Countesses of Exeter living, as will be seen from the following

abbreviated table :

THOMAS CECIL, ist EARL

(15421623).

Married (i) Dorothea Nevill (died 1609), (2) Frances Brydges (died 1663).

��WILLIAM, 2nd EARL Richard

(15661640). (15701633).

Married (i) Elizabeth Manners, Lady Roos (died 1591). |

(2) Elizabeth Drury (died 1658). DAVID, 3rd EARL

(? 1600 1643). William, Lord Roos Married Elizabeth Egerton (died 1688).

(1591 1618). I

Married Elizabeth Lake. JOHN, 4th EARL

(16281678).

Married(i), in 1646, Prances Manners (died 1669) (2) Mary Fane (died 1681).

4 The title was granted to him by letters of credence from the King, on the death of his mother in 1591, the year after his birth. His claim

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