LORD BURLEIGH.
William Cecil, Baron of Burleigh, Burghley, or Burley, for some time Secretary of State during the reigns of Edward VI. and Queen Elizabeth, and eventually Lord High Treasurer of England, was one of the ablest statesmen, one of the worthiest ministers that England, or indeed, any other country, has ever possessed.
He was born at Bourne, in Lincolnshire, in 1520, and was educated at the Grammar Schools of Grantham and Stamford.
He was then sent to St. John's College, Cambridge, where, finding himself associated with several young men of much talent, he was seized with such a vehement passion for learning, that it is related of him that he hired the bell-ringer to call him up every morning at four o'clock.
Unfortunately, he applied himself with too much zeal to his studies, for, by neglecting to take due precautions to keep himself in health, he brought on a severe illness, of which he was with difficulty cured.
Amongst other painful disorders, want of exercise caused his legs to swell to an immense size; and his physicians always declared that this distressing illness laid the foundation of the severe attacks of gout from which he suffered greatly during the latter years of his life.
However, during his youth, no amount of suffering could subdue his passion for learning.