Page:The house of Cecil.djvu/270

 234 THE CECILS

the following caustic comment on the occa- sion :

" My Lord Salisbury's match did not surprise me ; his steward, perhaps, may be a gentleman of as good a family as himself, and a woman of rank and knowledge of the world would not have accepted of a coachman, although he was a peer of the realm ! " l

But though Elizabeth may not have been the social equal of her husband, she was a sensible, virtuous woman, and a good mother. For two years after their marriage they lived at Hatfield ; then the Earl returned to his haunts at Quicks- wood, while his wife lived, for the most part, quietly in London, attending to the education of her children. 2

During this time Hatfield had fallen into great disrepair, and the Earl was so devoid of family feeling that he even disposed of all the family plate. 3 This was a loss which could not be repaired ; but it fell to the lot of his son and successor, not only to restore Hatfield to its former splendour, but also to retrieve the honour and the fortunes of the family.

" As the ashes of the Cecils are rekindling, perhaps a Phoenix may arise," wrote Horace Walpole, 4 " I remember Lord Hervey saying that everything degenerated and dwindled, and instancing the last Lord Salisbury, who, he said, was the cucumber of Burleigh [read Hatfield]. Well, then, as matters, when they can go no lower, may mount again, who knows what may happen, Madam ? "

1 Mrs. Delany to Mrs. Dewes, March 2nd, 1745.

8 Antrobus, Hatfield, pp. 92, 93.

8 Ibid., p. 92.


 * Letters, Cunningham's edition, IX. 30, November i6th, 1785.

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