Note 481 — Chapter XII

Martin Hume, The Great Lord Burghly, p. 55. Although Cecil never held any office under Mary, in consequence of the manner in which he had distinguished himself in the first rebellion, he sometimes appeared at court, was rich and influential, and spent most of his time in luxurious ease at his house at Wimbledon. He not only professed himself a Catholic, but according to Parsons in his Three Conversions of England, common report attributed his safety during Mary’s reign to the diligence with which he manipulated a monstrous pair of beads every morning in Wimbledon Church. The first entry in the Easter book of Wimbledon Parish in 1556 is: “My Master Sir Wilyam Cecell and my lady Myldred his wyff,” denoting that they had made their Easter, i.e., had confessed and received the Sacrament of the altar.