Page:The house of Cecil.djvu/246

 212 THE CECILS

in, and fear not to be judged at that great account of all flesh, and purpose to leave it behind me, as full of life and necessary fruit as I can, for the direction of my children, as their best patrimony, and for the satisfaction of the world as the truest account I can give for myself and my actions."

His debts at the time of his death amounted to nearly 38,000, in spite of the fact that he had recently sold Canterbury Park for 12,000. On the other hand, he had lent to various friends sums amounting to some 16,500, and he gave directions in his will that lands and woods should be sold to clear off his encumbrances. He also desired that a " fair monument " should be erected to his memory, and his son, the second Earl, carried out his wish. In 1618 he built the Salisbury Chapel on the north side of the chancel in Hatfield Church, and here, in the middle of the floor, is the monument to his father, in black and white marble. The Earl is lying in his robes on a flat slab, supported by figures of the four Cardinal Virtues, while below is a skeleton lying at full length. 1

" Ease and pleasure quake to hear of death,"

said Salisbury to Sir Walter Cope in his last illness,

' but my life, full of cares and miseries, desireth

to be dissolved." It is impossible to doubt his

sincerity in this pathetic utterance. He felt that

1 Brewer gives a curious estimate, by Simon Basil, the surveyor, of what the work ought to cost, and of the material required. The cost of " sawing and carving " the six figures in white marble is estimated at 60 apiece, while the two slabs of touchstone are to cost 60, and the carriage of the tomb to Hatfield and erecting it 40.

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