nominal one of the royal cup-bearer. It is possible, however, and indeed we gather as much from the letters of Languet, that this may have proceeded from his own temporary disinclination to active labor, and that he preferred devoting his leisure to the happy privacy which he celebrates in his poems, and to the literary exercises in which he never relaxed, or conceived for a moment that he had attained the goal of his ambition. But we must admit, at the same time, that we think it still more probable his promotion may have been retarded from the machinations of lord Burleigh, part of whose policy it was, as we are informed by lord Bacon, in the Cabala, that "able men should be by design and of purpose suppressed."

About the period in question, Sidney stood manfully forward to defend the character of his father, who had been charged with some act of arbitrary authority in his government of Ireland; and he not only succeeded in conciliating the queen, over whom the enemies of his house had gained much influence, but also completely reinstated his parent in the good opinion of the virtuous and the impartial. This affair had nearly involved him in a dangerous quarrel with Thomas, earl of Ormond, to whom he imputed the insidious practices by which her majesty's affections had been alienated; but, fortunately, the dispute terminated, when the first excitement had a little subsided, by the intervention of friends, and the mutual concessions of the parties. The danger, however, to which his father was still exposed, from the active malice of his adversaries, prevented Sid

ney from accepting a flattering invitation which he received in 1578 from John Casimir, the count palatine of the Rhine,* to join him in his meditated warfare against the king of Spain in the Netherlands. The venerable lord deputy fully appreciated the affectionate solicitude which had induced his beloved defender to remain in England; and he thus speaks of Sir Philip, in a letter to his second son, Robert, with all that fondness and pride which the possession of such an offspring might well excite and justify. "Follow the advice," he says, "of your most loving brother, who, in loving you, is comparable with me, or exceedeth me. Imitate his virtues, exercises, studies, and actions: he is a rare ornament of his age, the very formular that all well-disposed young gentlemen of our court do form also their manners and life by. In truth, I speak it without flattery of him or myself, he hath the most virtues that ever I found in any man. I saw him not these six months, little to my comfort. You may hear from him with more ease than from me. In your travels, these documents I will give you, not as mine, but his practices. Seek the knowledge of the estate of every prince, court, and city, that you pass through. Address yourself to the company, to learn this, of the

* This prince visited England in the autumn of 1578, for the purpose of gaining supporters to his hitherto unfortunate cause, the defence of the United Provinces. He was accompanied on this occasion by Hubert Languet, who was principally induced to take the journey, that he might once more enjoy the society and conversation of his friend Sidney.

elder sort, and yet neglect not the younger. By the one you shall gather learning, wisdom, and knowledge; by the other, acquaintance, languages, and exercise. Once again I say, imitate him."

It is pleasing to remark that Robert Sidney did not derogate from his illustrious parentage, or show himself unworthy of his brother's regard. He was an able envoy, and a gallant soldier. His bravery at the battle of Zutphen procured him the honor of knighthood from his uncle Leicester, on the 7th of October, 1586. He was advanced to the dignity of lord Sidney, baron of Penshurst, on the accession of James the First to the English throne, and was subsequently created viscount L'Isle in 1605; and elevated to the earldom of Leicester in 1618. Of his truly paternal care of his children, Ben Jonson says, in his "Forest,"

"They are, and have been taught religion; thence
Their gentler spirits have suck'd innocence.
Each morn and even, they are taught to pray,
With the whole household, and may, every day,
Read in their virtuous parents' noble parts
The mysteries of manners, arms, and arts."

In 1572 Catherine de Medicis had proposed joining England to France, by forming a matrimonial union between Elizabeth and her son Henry, the duke of Anjou. This project, however, was for the time counteracted by the zealous efforts of the Hugonot chiefs; but it was not long afterwards revived by the emissaries of France, though a new suitor was now brought forward in the person of the duke

To

of Alençon, the youngest son of Catherine, who subsequently succeeded to the title of Anjou, on the elevation of his brother to the throne of Poland. this match, Elizabeth herself, whether from policy or inclination, at first lent no unwilling ear; and the circumstance filled the realm with undisguised alarm and distress. The Protestant party in the kingdom, how discordant soever on other topics, unanimously combined in a strenuous opposition to the scheme. Both Burleigh and Leicester covertly, and Sir Walter Mildmay, Sir Ralph Sadler, and numerous influential persons openly, lent their cordial endeavours to break off the treaty, and to bring disgrace upon its supporters; and Sir Philip Sidney addressed a remonstrance to the powerful and "throned vestal," in which he ably pointed out the evils that were likely to arise from a connexion with the unpopular house of Valois. This production, bearing the date 1580, which is alleged to have had the effect of diverting the queen from her intentions, has received a very lofty meed of praise from Mr. Hume, and has been more recently characterized by Miss Lucy Aikin, as "at once the most eloquent and the most courageous piece of that nature which the age can boast. Every important view of the subject," she adds, "is comprised in this letter, which is long, but at the same time so condensed in style, and so skilfully compacted as to matter, that it well deserves to be read entire; and must lose materially either by abridgment or omission."

About this time, in consequence of a quarrel with the earl of Oxford, Sir Philip retired for a season to

the abode of the countess of Pembroke at Wilton, where he whiled away his time in planning and composing the Arcadia. This work, however, was not completed, nor made public, during his life; but was collected together, after his decease, and given to the press, by his sister, and hence it obtained the name of the Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia. There can be no doubt that it suffered severely in being deprived of the finishing touches and corrections of its author; and, indeed, it is not a little wonderful, considering all the disadvantages under which it labored, that we find it so perfect and so comparatively faultless as it now appears; for he tells us himself, in his dedication to the countess, that it was written on loose sheets of paper, most of it in her presence, and the rest sent to her in the same way as fast as it was done; and he is alleged to have requested, with considerable earnestness, on his death-bed, that this "charm of ages," as Dr. Young rightly call it, might be committed wholly to the flames.*

It is supposed, that about this time Sir Philip Sidney devoted himself, for a season, to a life of contemplative retirement. Part of the fruits of his meditation was his much celebrated Defence of Poesy, one of the noblest tributes ever offered to the allurements of the muse. It belongs, in fact, to the small number of those happy creations which he alone could either have produced, or devised, who has been

*An interesting article on the Arcadia may be found in the second volume of the Retrospective Review, pp. 1-45. See also Dunlop's History of Fiction.