Short answers, pulled from the story.
Robert Cecil 1st Earl of Salisbury stood barely five feet tall with a spine curved by scoliosis. Queen Elizabeth I called him my pygmy while King James I nicknamed him my little beagle.
Robert Cecil 1st Earl of Salisbury died of cancer at Marlborough Wiltshire on the 24th of May 1612. He passed away a week short of his 49th birthday after years of overwork.
Around 1600 Robert Cecil 1st Earl of Salisbury began secret correspondence with James VI in Scotland through private letters. This understanding allowed Cecil to assure James of succession and ensure his predominance in the new reign before James took the throne without opposition on the 24th of March 1603.
William Parker fourth Baron Monteagle showed Robert Cecil 1st Earl of Salisbury an anonymous letter warning him to stay away from Parliament opening. This document became the celebrated evidence for discovering the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 though historians debate at what point Cecil first learned of the conspiracy.
Robert Cecil 1st Earl of Salisbury worked hard in 1610-11 to persuade Parliament enact the Great Contract because debt had reached £1.4 million by 1608. The plan required the King give up feudal revenue sources for a fixed annual income of approximately £300,000 which Salisbury managed reducing it to £300,000 by 1610.