Page:The house of Cecil.djvu/40

 26 THE CECILS

At the same time, it is impossible to deny that Cecil was ruled by the dictates of his own ambition, and his cold and calculating nature led him into a course of action from which a man of more generous disposition would have shrunk. Worldly wisdom was his guide, as the Precepts which he addressed to his son Sir Robert Cecil sufficiently show. One of these is concerned with the attitude to be adopted towards the great, and may be quoted here. " Be sure to keep some great man thy friend," he says, " but trouble him not for trifles, compliment him often with many and small gifts, and if thou hast cause to bestow any great gratuity, let it be something which may be daily in sight, otherwise, in this ambitious age, thou shalt remain like a hop without a pole, live in obscurity, and be made a football for every insulting companion to spurn at."

The hand of Cecil is to be seen in all the measures of this reign. While ministers were plotting and scheming, the Secretary was indefatigable in business, giving his whole time and attention to the affairs of state. " Of all men of genius," it has been said, " he was the most of a drudge ; of all men of business, the most of a genius." l

Financial reform, the liquidation of the King's debt, and the improvement of commerce, were all in turn the objects of his care. He also took an active part in the measures for the settlement of the Church, and Cranmer, before submitting the new " Forty- two Articles " to Parliament and

1 Guthrie, History of England, III. 69.

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