Page:The house of Cecil.djvu/70

 54 THE CECILS

letter. She did weep for joy when I read it to her." 1

Soon after this, building must have begun again, as in September, 1575, Kemp writes asking for " the upright of the face 2 of the house his lordship intends building, as the workmen are almost at a standstill for want of it." The addi- tions now begun were to include the quadrangle and the North, South and West fronts, and the house was not completed until 1587.

Burghley house remains, so far as the outside is concerned, very much as its builder left it, only some outbuildings having been pulled down. It is a typical example of late Elizabethan architec- ture, and is imposing rather than beautiful. The interior has been very much altered and re- decorated, so that little of the original work remains. There are, however, some fine ceilings by Verrio, who is said to have lived at Burghley for twelve years while engaged on them, and by Laguerre, and there is some carving by Grin ling Gibbons. All of this, as well as the great collection of pictures and other works of art, date from the time of the fifth Earl of Exeter.

In addition to its tapestries, furniture, pictures and miniatures, Burghley is famous for its plate, which includes five silver-gilt dishes, used by the successive Earls as hereditary Grand Almoners, at coronations, as well as one which Lord Exeter

1 Hatfield MSS., II. 52.

2 I.e., the " elevation." Mr. Gotch seems to have overlooked this letter (Hatfield JMSS., II. in), when he gives 1577 as the date of beginning the final enlargement.

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